Ferminal said:Who replaced him?
I mean this is a guy who was employed to save lives, can't just let him go and not have someone ready to take over.
And i feel for the sky riders as there will be no one to treat their saddle sores.
The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
Ferminal said:Who replaced him?
I mean this is a guy who was employed to save lives, can't just let him go and not have someone ready to take over.
Ferminal said:Who replaced him?
I mean this is a guy who was employed to save lives, can't just let him go and not have someone ready to take over.
Leinders was a nobody. He was responsible for laughing stock as Menchov and Rasmussen. Menchov won only two more GT's than any Sky champ, which clearly shows Leinders was just in the kiddie competition.Parker said:Leinders's 'reputation' has been built entirely since Sky started winning and someone wanted to create a story. No-one mentioned him on here prior to 2012, despite apparently being a famous doping doctor that everyone knew about.
Leinders worked at Rabobank at the time the Michael Rasmussen scandal broke during the 2007 Tour de France, and allegations have since been made by a former member of team management that its medical staff were tolerant of riders doping at the time. A former rider also said that Leinders had helped him keep his haematocrit level below the permitted maximum.
Franklin said:Leinders was a nobody. He was responsible for laughing stock as Menchov and Rasmussen. Menchov won only two more GT's than any Sky champ, which clearly shows Leinders was just in the kiddie competition.
Indeed! The Rasmussen versus Rabo trial completely didn't make any media. The judge saying that the Management team of Rabo was fraudulent (and yes, Leinders was part of the management team) never made any paper. The well documented Carte Blanche for Leinders never made the papers either. Those who say otherwise are mean guys who falsified the records.
A doctor who is in the management team is absolutely not responsible for missbehavior of the riders and even if implicated in fraud really shouldn't be frowned at.
Hint, this was sarcasm.
1. The Rabo case was publicized. The judge did name the Management team fraudulent.
2. The carte blanche for Leinders did make the papers. It was never denied by anyone involved. Imagine such a "vile" accusation without any complaint.
Anyone downplaying Leinders influence and stature at Rabo is falsifying facts. And it's absolutely impossible that Sky wasn't fully aware of this. This was big news in the Netherlands and made the major news outlets. And the MR incident simply was the biggest TdF incident of the last ten years after the Flandis farce.
And yet they still hired him. Why would they hire a big shot known doping doctor who has been proven to have no scruples about whereabouts?
The answer: Saddle sores!
simo1733 said:Why didn't any other team hire him after Rabn the basis that he is a hotshot PED expert, you would think he would be in high demand.
Either his rep is not as impressive as this forum would like us to believe, or SkY give less of a S*** about doping than most of the other teams who definately don't give a s***.
No, they signed Leinders in late 2010, after the Vuelta.Dear Wiggo said:I disagree, and have posted this numerous times: http://road.cc/content/news/31011-dave-brailsford-hints-team-sky-may-be-softening-anti-doping-stance
The story goes on to discuss Neil Stephens as an example (that's called misdirection).
The interview is Feb 15th, 2011. I am guessing Leinders came on board not long after.
hrotha said:No, they signed Leinders in late 2010, after the Vuelta.
I don't know about Sky's official statements, but there's this:Dear Wiggo said:When does he first appear in any Sky communication? Do you have a link to this hiring date?
Leinders joined Sky in the winter of 2010
Dear Wiggo said:When does he first appear in any Sky communication? Do you have a link to this hiring date?
ETA: found a "late 2010" mention in another forum but no link to the article they copied. Typical.
dadane said:Leinders had carte blanche. Menchov and Rasmussen both had to source 'medical assistance' from outside contrary the closed-shop policy of the team at the time. To me this suggests his prime function was and is masking management.
His appointment came less than a year after Team Sky had pledged that it would only employ doctors who had never before worked on professional cycling teams, supposedly in order to ensure that the sins of cycling’s past could have no place in this new team.
Leinders was the team doctor with the Rabobank team in 2007 when Michael Rasmussen was expelled from the Tour de France while in yellow for evading doping controls
former Rabobank manager Theo De Roy told Volksrant that doping had been tolerated on the team up until at least 2007, saying that it was “a deliberate decision of the medical staff.”
it was a surprising decision by Team Sky to hire a doctor who was at Rabobank during the time Michael Rasmussen was kicked off the 2007 Tour de France and when Thomas Dekker tested positive for EPO.
“I’ll give you an example – saddle sores. Some of the sores the guys get are horrendous. Edvald [Boasson Hagen] had a really bad one and we thought ‘will we be able to send him to the Tour? Do we operate?’"
“There’s nothing he [Leinders] has done since he’s been here to give me any concern. We have had discussions with him and once we’ve established the facts, we will take the appropriate action.”
But they are failing, somehow, to get the message across that they are clean.
sittingbison said:Its a tangles web we weave...
BTW when did the Spanish seignior pass away? Txema??
I would agree Leinders is probably more a symptom than the explanation of Sky's transformation, but IMO the fact that they hired him is very telling and betrays an open change of policy.Daniel said:Although I agree that Team Sky is indeed suspicious, there is not a single piece of hard evidence that Leinders is in the center of all of this. While I think everyone should evaluate Sky with healthy skepticism, the current focus on Leinders seems unsupported. It just looks like someone threw a single, old bone into a group of hungry dogs and they are fighting over it ever since, neglecting the rest of the world that revolves around them. To me, the role of Leinders in Sky's doping program, if it exists, seems superficial at best. Just as it probably was with Rabobank. While Leinders' presence at Sky questions the truthfulness of their hiring policy, it hardly proves anything regarding doping.
hrotha said:I would agree Leinders is probably more a symptom than the explanation of Sky's transformation, but IMO the fact that they hired him is very telling and betrays an open change of policy.
hrotha said:I would agree Leinders is probably more a symptom than the explanation of Sky's transformation, but IMO the fact that they hired him is very telling and betrays an open change of policy.
With regards to DSs and technical staff, yes. I don't remember anyone saying the same about doctors.JRanton said:Worth pointing out that it actually was an open change of policy. Brailsford came out and said after the 2010 season that they were going to drop their initial 'whiter than white' stance.
JRanton said:Worth pointing out that it actually was an open change of policy. Brailsford came out and said after the 2010 season that they were going to drop their initial 'whiter than white' stance.
Daniel said:While Leinders' presence at Sky questions the truthfulness of their hiring policy, it hardly proves anything regarding doping.